The eWTP (electronic world trade platform) is China’s e-commerce giant company Alibaba’s initiative to enable cross-border trade, and provide smart logistics and policy innovation to help small to medium businesses enter the Chinese consumer market to sell their products. Cross-border e-commerce growth will help African countries fight excessive reliance on commodities whose prices are prone to market dynamics, create jobs, check poverty and ultimately lead to economic growth.
For Namibia to be part of the global e-commerce platform in China, the country is required to join Alibaba`s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) global initiative so that it can experience massive sales of our beef flagship export product through online livestream marketing of Taobao live or Ali Express live on Tmall a subsidiary online platform of Alibaba.
With a proven case study of Rwanda Gorilla Coffee, which is one of Rwanda’s flagship export products to China, Rwanda has enjoyed significant benefits since joining Alibaba’s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative in 2018. Since the launch of eWTP, Rwandan coffee and tourism products have been sold on Alibaba`s e-commerce platform which then enabled Rwandan Ambassador James Kimonyo with the help of Chinese live-streaming hosts on Chinese social media platforms to sell 3000 bags of Rwandan Gorilla Coffee in a few minutes during the China International Import Export CIIE in 2020.
The CIIE is a trade fair held annually in Shanghai since 2018 and is the first exhibition dedicated to imports in the world.
China International Import Expo (CIIE) platform will enable Namibian entrepreneurs to relocate their business to China to market and promote Namibian products and raise more awareness for Chinese consumers. The success of the online sale has encouraged Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to pursue more Rwandan companies to start trading online, to achieve higher volumes of export to China. The Rwandan government is also supporting local companies to increase their production and supply to meet China’s demand. The Namibian government needs to follow suit with beef and other Namibian export products because the closure of airports amid the pandemic has plunged a huge demand for China imports.
Ethiopia is the second country in Africa to establish an eWTP hub, and this new partnership builds upon the success of other eWTP partnerships in Asia (China and Malaysia), Europe (Belgium) and Africa (Rwanda) over the past two years. As the number of eWTP Hubs increases, it is hoped that trade will increase between the hubs, providing new opportunities for merchants in the global economy.
With the lessons that should be learned and emulated from Rwanda and Ethiopia cross border e-commerce, Namibia in as much as other countries exporting their products to China needs to be part of the joint venture of cross-border e-commerce so that Namibia can be able to leverage their trades for opportunities that can impact business and job opportunities for both Namibian nationals in China and local Chinese business as we exchange currencies for commodities through international trade of export-import both between B2B and B2C.
One way as derived from one school of thought to leverage international trades for business cooperation opportunities and job creation for foreign nationals in countries importing products from the foreign nationals` country, is by using diplomatic good influence to empower foreign nationals with business opportunities so that we can have relevant business partnerships for promoting our country flagship products through e-commerce.
According to a recent media report, Africa has a large number of internet users and has great market potential. Meanwhile, China with its experience in e-commerce market development, digital payments and logistics management, could help African countries build e-commerce ecosystems. The number of internet users in Africa has reached 465 million and is expected to reach 495 million by 2025. The African e-commerce market is projected to reach $ 34.7 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.1%.
Due to the impact of the Covid 19 from 2019 and beyond, the global coronavirus pandemic has changed the dynamics of business operations worldwide. Businesses have to adapt to a new method of doing business online and joining cross-border e-commerce to leverage internet connectivity so that sales can be made either between suppliers to customers or between businesses to consumers.
It is, therefore, imperative as informed by market analysis and technology understanding to make use of internet connectivity which of course could mean big data consumption and purchasing for manufactured products to be able to meet robust supply and demand. The signing of the Namibia eWTP hub would be a footstep towards the country’s development of a digital economy. In fact, China-Africa cooperation in e-commerce is already underway. Founded by the founder of Kilimall, Kenya’s leading online shopping mall, has attracted thousands of suppliers. While the platform provides Chinese consumers with African products, it also introduces African products such as coffee beans and red wine to Chinese consumers.